Rubies and Sapphires
by Saffyre
Summary: It is after the downfall of Voldemort. All seems calm, but new complications arise as four ordinary girls find themselves wrapped up in yet another prophecy and the wizarding world once again finds itself fearing the prosperity of evil. R & R, P & T!
1. Prologue: Sapphires and Secrecy

Rubies and Sapphires 

**By: Saffyre**

**Disclaimer:** Setting, characters and all related ideas are copyright to Joanne Kathleen Rowling. I do not own them, nor do I claim to (as you can see). All I own is the plot and the characters that I made up (Serena, Alisha, Narcissa and Priscilla and Jason).

**Summary:** It is after the downfall of Voldemort. Harry Potter has become the Headmaster at Hogwarts after completing his aurorship and defeating the Dark Lord, and his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, stand proudly at his side. All _seems_ calm, but new complications arise as four seemingly ordinary girls find themselves wrapped up in yet another prophecy and the wizarding world once again finds itself fearing the prosperity of evil. These four girls arrive at Hogwarts, completely unaware of the dangers that will arise and the adventures they will face. The only hope for renewed peace and happiness lies in the past; will the girls know where to look? Or will evil persist and dominate once more?

**Author's Note: If you're going to read it, at least read all of the first chapter (and the prologue, if you want) before you decide you don't like it! The prologue is a bit dramatic, and unfortunately, I'm not sure everyone will like it. It may be best if you skip it and persist to the first chapter; it's not really important, it's just there to give you a bit of a 'clue', like a piece of the puzzle. Also…** This is my first fan fic ever. I'm not sure if it's worth continuing or even good enough to publish, so please review giving me constructive criticism to improve and continue or to stop and forget about it. Just so you all know, if I ever do finish it, it will be very long. I'd really appreciate it if, should you guys like it, you add it either to your favourites or one of your alert lists so that you're not always checking on the story. I may not update as often as some of you may like (sorry, but I have a tight schedule). Thanks,

-Saff

* * *

Prologue: Sapphires and Secrecy 

Creeping through the darkness, a jet-black cat with startlingly blue eyes resembling pools of sapphires snuck through the shadows. Around her neck, a blue collar (which matched her eyes perfectly) bore real, sterling silver letters, which spelled a single word. _Arowen._

Hogwarts was very quiet at night, and empty. It was far from the bustling school it would soon become. The cat was careful not to break the silence, her soft, padded feet moving soundlessly across the stone floor.

Moonlight poured in through the windows like unicorn blood. She stared at it, longing to admire the beautiful sight, but knowing she must not linger. Time was short; she quickened her pace, still in the shadows. Her keen, cat eyes helped her distinguish the many shadows, finding it easy to slip undetected through the immense, endless castle.

Bathed in blackness, the castle was exactly as it should have been. Silent. Deserted. Exactly as she wanted it. Not a student was out of bed, there was nobody to catch her, nobody—she froze. A sound penetrated the silence, like a human footfall. She looked around desperately, searching for the source of the sound. Surely…surely none of the founders were out of bed? Surely it was just a student…it couldn't be…

Her heart fluttered wildly. She felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, and somehow, she knew the impossible was true. Sure enough, she saw a single pair of glittering emerald green eyes. Salazar Slytherin stood in front of a white, wooden, girls' bathroom door. _"NO!"_ she almost screamed, forgetting that she had no voice. A low hiss emerged from her throat instead. For a moment, time seemed to stop as she stood, petrified, at the corner, her back arched, watching in horror as the sandy-blonde-haired man in front of her turned. It didn't take him long to recognize those sapphire blue eyes. Hatred crossed his face.

"Why, hello, there," he said, his voice no more than a malicious snarl, "_Arowen._" He spoke the word as though it were a curse, with a touch of mock and a slip of hatred.

Before she could act any further, he had knelt down and picked her up. Trapped in his arms, she struggled about desperately, but he had a strong, firm hold on her small form. "I wondered when I would at last be able to hold you," he told her in a tone of mock-passion.

Furiously, she bore her claws in an attempt to scare him away, but it was to no avail. With a mutter of an incantation and a swish of his wand, they had become nothing more than blunt, round silver spheres that couldn't hurt a fly.

As he pushed open the door, she gave a hiss of astonishment and he muttered, "Transfiguration always was your solution to everything. I thought I ought to take a leaf out of your book, _my dear_." The last two words he spoke with an edge of anger, of hatred. But the rest of him seemed to speak in a tone that was of mock-happiness and pleasure.

He closed the door behind him and stood in the bathroom, a cylindrical and carefully architectured structure of sinks before him. He smiled, and set her down. Immediately, she bolted towards the door, but he barred it with a wave of his wand. "No," he hissed angrily, "I want you to see what I have done before you meet your fate. He laughed evilly, the cackle echoing loudly through the room.

Once again, she hissed, clawing at the door, but her claws—her only weapon—were no longer sharp. "Come," he commanded, and an invisible force resulted in her having no choice. She felt herself being dragged forward until she stood at his feet. "Now," he continued cruelly, "show yourself."

The cat let out a low hiss of protest, but once again she had no choice. Sparks swirled around her, and a few moments later, a young woman in her mid-thirties sat kneeling before him, tears shining in her dark brown eyes, trailing slowly down her olive-toned cheeks. Her long, rich, brown, wavy and slightly curly hair was hidden behind the baby blue hood of a long silk robe.

The man grinned. "Look at me," he commanded, "look into the face of me, your superior."

She shook her head furiously, soft sobs coming from her throat. Her tall, slender figure sat crumpled in a heap at the man's feet, fearful and even a little panicked.

Mercilessly, the man scowled. "Must I force you, my _dear friend_? Are you really that cowardly? Very well—"

"NO!" she snapped, rising to her feet and glaring up at him. She was only a little shorter than her companion, but his tall, broad figure towered over her. "You are not my superior. You cannot accept rejection and you are foreign both to the bonds of friendship and to love."

The man's face twisted in anger. Furiously, he snatched her by the collar and pulled her so close to him that she could feel his breath on her face. "You will regret those words," he growled, "when you find yourself a 'victim' of my passion."

Her face paled. "That is your plan, is it? To torture me now that I am wandless and alone? That is your plot for revenge?"

"No," he hissed, "that is only half my plan. You will not be tortured by magic. Your fate will be by other methods. But first, _my dear_, you will watch and learn of my plot to destroy all the hard work you have put into this school."  
"You would really do that?" she whispered, "when originally it was your brilliant idea?"

"Had I known the extent to which you would butcher my plan, I never would have done it," he growled.

"But you did. You would really waste that much of your life doing something so noble, only to destroy your hard work _parce que ce n'est pas **pur**_?" she asked, her words sharp and cutting.

"You brought filth into my idea. You and the others."

She scowled. "We did the right thing. Our population would have died out if we hadn't done it. It was a risk we were not willing to take."

"I would rather we die honourable," he hissed, "than die a shameful and filthy group. Mudbloods!" he thundered, "that is what they are! MUDBLOODS!" His voice echoed in the dark, empty bathroom.

"No!" she cried, snatching him by the collar, "they are not mudbloods. They are no different from us, and they are in your relations as well as mine. You know that magic all started because of them!"

The man's face twisted in anger. "Get—your—hands—off—of—me!" he screamed. Immediately he whipped out his wand. It only took a simple swish for the witch to find herself glued to the wall, ropes binding her. She struggled to move but they only coiled about her harder. Another wave and a gag was placed over her mouth.

He grinned happily. "Now," he continued, "where were we? Ah, yes, my plan to destroy. Here we go."

Smiling, he walked up to one of the sinks and rubbed his hands around the tap. "_Lumos!_" he whispered. A light sprung from his wandtip, revealing a tiny serpent engraved into the metal tap. He turned to her and smiled. "Do you know what this is?"

Without waiting for an answer, he whispered something. But his words were not English, they were a foreign language the woman had seldom heard before. It was a combination of hisses and snarls, like what a snake speaks. Her heart caught in her throat as she realized that it must be parseltongue. Understanding filled her.

"Yes," he whispered softly, turning to her and watching as her eyes widened in comprehension, "it is true. This is the entrance to the Chamber. _My_ Chamber. The Chamber of Secrets."

In a moment's time, the top of the sink structure had risen to the ceiling and the sinks were steadily dispersing themselves. Before long, the man stood at the entrance of what looked to be a very large pipe. He then walked over to her and ripped off her gag, slicing the ropes off with his wand and not bothering to prevent giving her a nasty gash along her ribs as well. Blood seeped into her robe as she tumbled to the floor.

"Come!" he commanded, and once again, an invisible force pushed her forward. She stood in front of him, so close she could feel his breath in her hair. The hair on the back of her neck tingled, standing on end.

He carefully ran his hands along her shoulders, his fingers lingering and descending lower and lower, passing over her chest, her ribs, and coming to rest on her hips. She bristled, bracing herself. She made to move but his grip tightened and he held her firm. Slowly, he leaned forward and planted a kiss on the back of her neck.

Furiously, she kicked him from behind and broke free of his grasp. She turned to glare at him. "Do _not_!" she said simply, "all these years and I would have hoped you could have taken my rejection properly."

"Alas," he said, his grin broad, "I do not take rejection. You listen to me because I am your superior." He grinned evilly, touching her once more, then pushing her towards the entrance of the pipe. "More of that will come later. Now, go!"

With a final shove from her companion, the woman was forced downwards. The pipe was like a long slide, and at the end, she collided head first with the ground, groaning audibly. She quickly slipped out of the way just in time for the man to fall along beside her.

"Come," he whispered, taking her hand and stroking it passionately. She tried to pull away but he smiled and squeezed her tighter. "There is no point resisting," he scolded, "not anymore. It is time I got what I wanted. I will use force if I must, but you know I am armed and you are not."

She scowled, and turned to glare at him with her dark brown eyes. The stare was piercing, and she succeeded in intimidating him, but only for a moment. "Your defiance," he began firecely, "will only cause you more pain later. _Don't_ test my tolerance."

She sighed and said, "what is your problem? Let me go already!" His hand was icy cold and his grip on hers was steely. She tried to wriggle her sweaty palm free but it was to no avail. Salazar merely ignored her comment, but he shot her a warning glare.

They continued to walk until at last as they stopped in front of a large, circular doorway that reminded her of her vault at Gringotts. The sole difference was that there was a stone snake all around the perimeter of the door and five other stone snakes, all slithering in different directions, across the middle.

Once again, he whispered something in parseltongue, and once again, the hidden entrance was revealed. Immediately, the snakes sprung to life. The one on the outside slithered all around the perimeter, knocking off the snakes in the middle. As each snake slid off and recoiled backwards, a loud click was heard. When at last all of the snakes had stopped moving, the door burst open. He turned to smile at her. "Ladies first," he said mockingly.

She scowled, which only made him grin more broadly still. "Can you guess what I said to make the door open for me—" he paused, then continued, "or should I say, for us?" he laughed a cold, hard laugh and stroked her hand, his lips brushing it. When he turned to look at her, his gaze was one of passion—passion for power, that was. She could tell that he was enjoying having so much control over her and seeing her so helpless. _What a stupid jerk!_ She thought bitterly, knowing her only choice was to give into his demands.

"No, and I don't care what you—" she started, but was cut off by his soft hissing voice.

"_Enemies of the heir beware…may this Chamber always remain fair…no blood traitor shall enter, no one of non-magical parentage will dare…long live Salazar Slytherin and may the mudbloods die the filthy death that they deserve._"

"You bloody bastard!" she exploded at last, "what do you think you're doing, prancing around like you're so much better than everyone else! What is your problem? I thought you were my friend, what happened to—" once again, she was cut off, and a penetrating silence fell over them. Her heart caught in her throat as fear surged through her, and she realized that she had gone too far.

His grip on her hand tightened and she winced, biting her lip. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand. The plain, black tip of the wooden stick prodded at her throat. She waited for Salazar to stop it and was alarmed to see him persist to the extent that she nearly choked. At last, she extended her hand and shoved the stick away from herself. He merely laughed, but the message was clear: _don't mess with me, don't test my patience, and don't go there. You'll only make it harder for yourself later on_.

Seeing that she had relented, he smiled, loosening the steel grip on her clammy hand. "Shall we proceed?" he asked.

The witch knew that he was trying to pretend that he was her lover. She scowled. "Whatever," she muttered, "it's not like I actually have a say in the matter!"

He smiled. "Come now," he said comfortingly, putting his other, free arm around her, "it's only bad if you want it to be." He pulled her in further, and then, at last, she took a step through the door.

The moment she entered the room, she was completely speechless; what was there to say? She found it magnificent, yet at the same time, it was a plot to destroy her and her closest friends' life purposes. All around her were magnificent, beautifully carved stone statues. They were all of a human head, with a large beard and long hair, and each one's mouth opened wide to reveal a small doorway. She figured the statues must represent something, perhaps…yes…as she looked at Salazar, she figured it was possible that the thirty-five-year-old had attempted to depict his older self. Each statue was the same, but she knew that they all led to a different place.

She also noticed that every statue—or doorway, rather—had a different bit of writing above it. The one directly across from her, in the center, was particularly big and it read, _To Destroy_. Other doorways said various things, but her eyes caught the large ones directly to her left and right, which said exactly the same thing: _To Victimize_. These doorways were not sealed; they simply led to a long, dark tunnel from what she could see of them.

Beside her, Salazar laughed, clearly pleased. "So," he began triumphantly, "how do you like it?"

She scowled. Immediately, her behaviour changed, and she assumed an expression, which hid how impressed she really was. "I hate it!" she spat.

"Is that so?" Slytherin asked in a tone of mock-surprise. She knew that he knew that she was lying, but she didn't care.

"Shall I give you a tour?" he continued happily. Without waiting for an answer, he pointed to the large doorway up ahead of them. "This," he said, "this leads to the monster's lair." He smiled as he waited for the fact to sink in.

"The—the monster?" she asked in alarm, "what do you mean, the monster?"

"Well," he continued, grin broad, "I managed to lay my hands on a very, very rare creature. Have you heard of the Basilisk?" He already knew the answer, but he spoke anyway, just to watch her face whiten even more. "It is a—"

"I _know_ what it is! But how did you get it and why would you want to get it?"

He laughed. "I hatched it myself. Thankfully, Basilisks don't need special eggs—indeed it was hard to get a frog to hatch a chicken egg, but after several attempts, I managed. No, the difficult part was training it. But at last, I managed to get it to understand not to attack me or any of my descendents."

"Your what?" she asked, baffled. The witch stood confused, trying to figure out where this was going. Unfortunately, usually when Salazar's plans made no sense to her at first, they turned out to be startlingly brilliant and flawless. She had learned that the hard way.

"My descendents, didn't you hear me the first time? Or should I say, my heirs?"

"Please explain," the witch requested, shaking her head in confusion.

"Yes, I'm getting to that!" Slytherin snapped, and the witch felt he'd lost a bit of his touch. No longer did he seem quite so threatening or villainous. "Alright," he continued, indicating to the two doors directly to their left and right. "These two doors lead nowhere. Basically, they go through a bunch of pipes and everything; if you get far enough, they're dead ends. I recommend that you avoid going through there, because it's just wet and grimy, there's really no point." He continued indicating to many of the doors, at last pointing to one final door next to the monster's cave that read, _To Gloat_. "And that," he finished, "is my throne room."

The witch noticed that there was one door he had forgotten, the one next to his throne room, but she didn't bother to inform him. She frowned, squinting at the words etched into the stone, which spelled, _To Imprison_. Shrugging it off, she listened closely as he began to explain his 'marvelous plot.'

Salazar grinned. "And now," he began, "we get down to it all." With a point of his finger, the entrance through which they had come creaked closed, and up above them, the witch was sure that the same could be said for the secret bathroom entrance. With another snap, a luxurious, emerald green couch sat before them.

"So," he started, placing his arm around her and leading her towards the couch. She sat down beside him, knowing she had no choice and could do nothing to prevent his fingers lingering. He smiled, continuing. "I had this idea so that I could cast my revenge on Hogwarts and my three 'friends.'" He laughed, and pulled the witch closer towards him, grinning as he saw her flinch. "I decided that I could not go on forever, and I had to make a decision quick, something that would make them regret the crazy idea of letting those filthy mudbloods into the school. I wanted to do something that would last forever, even after I had died, even after they had died. So, I built this chamber. Once it has matured enough, my Basilisk will be ready. It will attack the mudbloods and obey my heir's commands. Additionally, I am convinced that they will be the only people in the entire school who possess the art of parseltongue, which helps, because the Basilisk is a great serpent. So, my plan was, to build a chamber—which I have so cleverly done—that would be hidden, but something my descendents could still open when they went to school. They could use the chamber for various things; to gloat," he began, indicating to his throne room, "to preserve our loyal bloodline," he continued, his finger pointing in the direction of a doorway that said, _To Preserve_, which he had explained would be where all the corpses of his and his families' dead bodies would be saved, "to imprison those who do us wrong or those upon whom we wish to revenge," he continued, indicating to the room that said, _To Imprison_, and the witch felt chills course through her spine, realizing he hadn't forgotten about it, "to victimize one particular person through which one lures into the chamber," he continued, pointing to the pipes, "but most importantly, to destroy," he finished, at last indicating to the room in which the Basilisk was kept. "To destroy your 'noble' work, to destroy integrated magical education at this school!"

His final words echoed loudly in the chamber, and the woman shuddered involuntarily. He only wrapped his arms around her tighter, pulling her in closer to him and planting another kiss on her head. Holding her firmly in place, he continued, "my heirs will open the chamber and they may use the Basilisk to perform attacks on the mudbloods. The chamber is so cleverly hidden I am convinced that the culprit will never be determined, nor that the chamber will ever be found. The tradition will be passed down, from generation to generation, and it is positively foolproof."

The witch sighed, not wanting to agree, though she knew he was right. Then, she realized something. Frowning, she felt his arms loosen around her and took advantage of the time to rise to her feet, and turn to face him triumphantly. "No, it's not!" she told him, "not anymore! You see, when I leave, I'm going straight to the other Founders to tell them about this."

She waited for the words to sink in, for Slytherin to frown in fear, but to her horror, he didn't. Her face grew ghostly pale as his final words were spoken, and she realized that he was right. "But that's the thing," he began, his cold, cruel voice echoing in the empty stone walls, "you're not going anywhere."

* * *

Those words were true. The witch was kept in a luxurious room, but it was still a prison. She slept in a large, queen-size, emerald green and silver bed with heaps of cushions. Her food was brought to her on silver platters, with snakes engraved in the sides. She was able to eat whatever she wanted, but he monitored everything she did. There was only one secret she had that he didn't know about: her journal.

She titled it _Sapphires and Secrecy_, and in it, she recorded every chapter of her miserable life as a prisoner. She had managed to bring it into his 'Chamber of Secrets' with her; it had been quite a coincidence that on particular midnight stroll she had slipped it into her pocket and decided she would find writing inspiration in the moonlit grounds. Unfortunately, she had never gotten the chance to so much as leave the castle prior to her ambush.

Every night, she wrote in her journal. And two years later, she had his child. That night, she was brutally murdered. Her husband and her two sleeping children upstairs sensed it, but there was nothing they could do. After all, she had been missing for two years now, and they had had to go on without her. Her husband would have come after Salazar if he had known, but it was far too late for that. So, he went on without a wife. His children grew up without a mother.

Meanwhile, that very night, the witch was in the midst of a deep sleep, her breathing laboured after a smooth delivery, when she felt something cold and smooth rub against her cheek. It was a knife. Salazar's last words to her were that he was going to kill her the Muggle way, slow and painful. And so it was. The Basilisk had a wholesome feast that night, and Salazar Slytherin took his child and locked the chamber, leaving the school forever, without a trace. There was no evidence that the imprisonment of that woman had ever taken place. No evidence, except her journal.


	2. Chapter I: Friends and Enemies

See first page for disclaimer, author's notes and other information.

* * *

Chapter I: Friends and Enemies 

Alisha Everwhirl stepped tentatively into _Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occassions_. Being a Muggle Born, she had only just discovered she was a witch and was still getting used to the idea of magic.

_It's bloody brilliant all the same!_ She thought to herself as she remembered her encounter with Mr. Ollivander, and his proud proclamation of, "Unicorn Hair, Hazel, twelve inches!" Smiling happily to herself, she absently reached into the pocket of her Muggle jeans and withdrew the baby blue-coloured wand, stroking its side lovingly.

Suddenly, she was roused from her reverie by a woman's voice with a thick accent. "'Ello, dearie! Welcome to Madam Malkin's, 'ow may I 'elp you?"

Jumping at the sound of the voice, Alisha scurried up to see a tall, slender woman with long, straight, light brown hair, brown eyes, and a brilliant smile. She looked to be in her mid-forties, was clad in black robes, and wore a black witch's hat.

"Oh!" Alisha exclaimed, grin broad. "Hello…Madam…er…Malkin! I was just wondering if I could get some robes for my school, you know, it's called—"

"Another 'Ogwarts student?" the woman inquired in a squeaky little voice, "right this way, please! Oh, and call me Millie, that's my full name, Millie Malkin." She smiled and led the girl across the blue-carpeted floor.

All around her, Alisha saw scissors, pins, sewing baskets, wool, yarn, strips of material, ribbons, and virtually anything else you could imagine would be used in robe-making. A few of the objects were even working by themselves, she noticed! Over in the corner, some scissors were cutting off a strip of long, brilliant blue, starry material, and then a needle and thread sewed it carefully to the inside of a midnight black robe. "Brilliant!" she whispered to herself as she walked. "Amazing little shop you've got here!" she exclaimed with a smile.

The woman grinned. "Why thank you," she said. "Now, why don't you go and sit over there with that other girl, on one of the stools, and I'll get you some robes and try to get you fitted."

Alisha nodded, watching the woman leave, but as she approached the stool, she immediately froze. Suddenly the woman's words sunk in. _Over there by that other girl._ Alisha was an all-around anti-social person and she didn't fancy hanging out with other people her age.

All her life, she had been rejected and shunned, even by her family. She had never had anyone she could call a friend, and her parents seemed merely ashamed of her. Unlike most people, she couldn't relate to them at all. They looked different, acted different, and didn't have the same last name. Her mother was a 'social butterfly,' often getting invited to cocktail parties and get-togethers, while she herself was the exact opposite. Her father was just a drunk. His sole purposes in life seemed to be fighting with her mother, making Alisha's life difficult, drinking, and going to work to complain about it.

She sighed, shaking her head. It had been such a relief to get her letter from Hogwarts. At Muggle school, she had merely been teased and excluded, liked by no one. Alisha knew that it was because they found her different, and feared her. But what could she do about it?

However much she hoped that life in the magical community would be different, she was afraid she might end up the same way she always had, and was reluctant to take the plunge and socialize with anyone just yet. So far, she had been fortunate enough not to have run into another student, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it now.

Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the stool, and, in order to avoid glancing at the other girl, she pretended to become very interested in examining it. Unfortunately, this soon grew boring. It was not a very exciting stool: it was made of wood, was very stubby, and had three legs. There was nothing else to examine. At last, biting her lip, she thought to herself, _suck it up! Swallow your fear and at least try!_ So she did. Slowly, she cast a glance over at the other girl.

She was surprised to see that this girl was, according to appearances, almost the exact opposite as she was. They had the same hair style, but Alisha's was blonde, which in the light appeared silvery, while the girl's was dark brown and in the light, held a tinge of red. Alisha had pale skin, but this girl had a dark, olive skin tone. The girl was only a little taller than her, and the only thing they seemed to have in common was their eyes: both dark brown.

She realized this only as the other girl turned to look at her, and their eyes locked. She stared at the other girl for a moment, then, not wanting to appear that she was challenging her, pulled on a small smile. Much to her surprise, the girl returned it, hers warmer and bigger than Alisha's. Feeling hopeful, Alisha returned an equally large smile. For a moment she almost felt a connection between them. Their eyes seemed to spell out an unspoken greeting, and a wordless welcome.

Madam Malkin returned in a hearbeat, carrying a large roll of smooth, black material. She was quick to fit it around Alisha, just as she had done with the other girl, and begin to carefully pin and sew her up. Quite suddenly, she said, "wow! We're quiet today, aren't we, girls?"

"Mmm," Alisha murmured, and she heard the other girl say something like, "uh-huh." Madam Malkin tried to get a conversation going by talking about her time at Hogwarts, and the four Houses, and all about what it was like, but neither of the girls really listened. Both were lost in their own thoughts.

The other girl was done first, but Alisha almost felt the words forming in her mind as the girl shot her one final glance. Everything about her told her, _goodbye!_ Alisha merely grinned, returning the gesture, and her eyes widened as she saw the reaction of the other girl when she seemed to hear Alisha's thoughts, which told her, _likewise!_ As the girl walked out the door, Alisha made a promise to herself that she would try and see her again, try and befriend her. She was done shortly after, and took her new robes as well as a pocket-full of her remaining three Galleons, fifteen Sickles and twenty Knuts to the last stop, the book shop, Flourish and Blotts!

* * *

This was her favourite place, because she loved to read. Recently, she had managed to pre-order all of her school books and had read them front-to-back during her free time, memorizing their contents by heart. With her remaining money, she intended to buy as many other books that interested her as she could. She meandered through the store, relishing the fact that she had all the time in the world and dreading leaving the shop. The reason for this was that her parents, not caring about her at all, had dumped her over at Diagon Alley with a bit of spare Muggle change (she'd exchanged it for wizarding money at Gringotts, and had opened an account there as well), instructing her to find an inn to stay at overnight. Alisha had been afraid that there would be no inn, and was therefore relieved to come across the Leaky Cauldron. Unfortunately, she still had to stay alone overnight there, and she was very nervous to do so. 

Suddenly, she was roused from her thoughts as she caught sight of a new form enter the shop. It was the girl from the Madam Malkin's!

Feeling excited, she took a deep breath, grin broad. Slowly, she slid the book she was holding back onto the shelf and scurried over to the girl. "Uh…" she said slowly, "hi."

Immediately, the spontaneity that had gripped her earlier evaporated, leaving her standing, rooted to the spot, feeling embarrassed an idiotic. At last, she said, "my name's Alisha, and I saw you today…over in the robe shop?"

Much to her relief, the girl pasted on a smile, and immediately took to discussing with her. She laughed. "Oh, yeah, Madam Malkin's! That woman is quite something, isn't she?"

Alisha laughed, realizing for the first time how true it was. "Definitely!" she exclaimed, "She has a squeaky voice and a thick accent. Honestly… 'Ello dearie!" she exclaimed in imitation. She laughed at her comment, grinning broadly when she saw the other girl do the same. "I mean…wow! She is pretty nice, though," she admitted.

The girl nodded. "She can be annoying, though. Like when you're just trying to think and then she interrupts you and tries to make a conversation."

Alisha grinned in agreement. "Yeah," she said at last, "I don't know, I found that, too. She's probably just not used to people not talking, but still!"

Their conversation continued for quite a while, until the girl finally extended her hand and smiled.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Alisha! I hope to see you at Hogwarts—I'm Serena by the way, although you can call me Ren if you like. But now, I have to get my books and talk to my mother, to figure out what to do about tonight. You see, I live in Liverpool and we have to figure out how I'm going to get back to London in time to catch the Hogwarts express. We came to London just for the day, but we can't make it in time for the train at eleven o'clock…"

Alisha paused, hesitating. "Here," she said, "I love to read. I've been in this shop for the past two hours, and I know where the school books are. Come with me," she said, leading the way.

They arrived at a large book shelf which was in the 'Schools' section, and titled, 'Hogwarts.' There were seven shelves in total, one for each year. At the very bottom were the First Year books. Alisha knelt down on her knees, handing the girl all the books she needed, until at last Serena stood, hidden behind a large pile of books that she could hardly hold up.

Alisha laughed. "Need help?" she asked.

"No," Serena replied, "thanks for showing me where the books are! I hate reading! Ugh!" She laughed, then continued, "but it's OK if you like to read. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. I just don't really like school and trying to pull off good grades and everything." She shrugged, then continued, "anyway, I'd best be off," and headed towards the counter.

"Wait!" Alisha said at last.

Ren turned to face her, surprised.

"I—I—" she froze, at a loss for words. Alisha sighed. She really, really wanted to ask Ren if she would stay with her in a room at the Leaky Cauldron, but she wasn't sure the other girl would agree to it, or even want to. After all, they had just met, and yet, Alisha felt something about this girl that she'd never felt with anyone else: a connection.

"I was wondering if…" she averted her eyes, gazing at the ground. "Well, you see, I have to stay in a room in the Leaky Cauldron all by myself tonight." She paused, and snorted. "Obviously my parents don't care about me much if they just dump me over in Diagon Alley with some money and a wave goodbye for the rest of the school year. But anyway…just, I don't know if you'd even want to, but if you do, you're welcome to share a room with me overnight…that is, if you still haven't figured out anything to do."

Much to her surprise, the girl's face lit up. "Oh, gosh! Alisha, that's so nice of you, I—I—wait here!"

She thrust the many books into Alisha's arms and disappeared out the door. Just when Alisha thought she wasn't coming back, Serena returned, wearing an ear-to-ear grin. "I can come!" she exclaimed, "I talked to my mum and she said it was probably the best idea and easiest thing to do!"

They both bought their books, and then Ren followed Alisha as they walked together to the Leaky Cauldron.

Alisha's heart hammered wildly in her chest. _Wow,_ she thought excitedly, _she's rooming with me. Like…a sleepover._ Often times, back at her public school, Alisha had heard talk of invitations and such to large groups of friends' houses and their sleepovers and slumber parties. Of course she herself had never been invited, but the other kids enjoyed rubbing it in her face that they were going to something like this, something that she could only dream of. _If only they could see me now,_ she thought, a mischevious glint in her eye.

* * *

As they arrived at the inn, an orchestra of sounds filled her ears, accompanied by a gallery of sights and a restaurant of smells. (A/N: Do pardon the poor, metaphoric descriptions, sorry about that). The Leaky Cauldron had a strange, sort of eerie and smoky feel to it, yet at the same time, it was bright and happy. Every corner of the inn seemed to be bustling with activity. For a moment, the two girls just stood, breathless, exploring the room with all five senses. At last, Serena spoke. 

"So, umm…what now?" she asked. It may have seemed a strange question, but it was perfectly fitting. Both just stood rooted to the spot, uncertain of what to say or do.

"Uh…" Alisha said, pausing for a moment before walking over to the counter. "Over here…" she said slowly, "I think we have to talk to the—"

"What do you want!" a crude voice interjected.

At the sudden sharpness, Alisha faltered, already feeling awkward and shy. "We—we just…were…" she broke off, feeling beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

She stared at the floor, not even bothering to look up and face a short, hunched over little wizard with a long, white beard and a matted, shoulder-length head of white hair. He was hunched over on a cane and his skin was so rough and wrinkly it looked comparable to sandpaper. "Thought yeh'd just pop in fer a little Firewhiskey, eh?" he growled in a gravelly tone, "well you ain't gettin' any, so yeh'd better be off b'fore I—"

"Stop!" Serena yelled, recovering faster than Alisha and immediately coming to the rescue. She hurried forward, her long, brown hair swaying behind her. "We just wanted to see about getting a room to stay in overnight."

Immediately, the man's face quickly softened. "Err…righ'…" he said gruffly, peering down at them with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "Sorry 'bout that," he grunted, "yes, well…how long will yeh be stayin' fer?"

"Only a night," Alisha replied, at last recovering from her earlier state.

"And that's all?" he asked, still sounding suspicious.

"That's all," Ren replied confidently.

"Righ'," he said slowly, "five Galleons please." With that, he held out his wrinkled hand, waiting for the money.

Alisha fished around in her royal blue change purse, her face going white. "Uh-oh," she said, "I—I don't have enough!" Sure enough, despite her frantic attempts to find another one, her satchel produced merely three large, round, golden coins.

"Here," Ren said, fishing around her own, scarlet wallet and pulling out two more Galleons.

"Are you sure?" Alisha asked, but Ren nodded firmly and dropped the coins in her hand. Knowing it was only polite to accept and promising herself she would pay the girl back later, she dropped the Galleons on the counter with a clang and waited for the wizard's response.

The old man carefully picked up the Galleons, counting them one by one on his fingers as he placed them in the cash register (Alisha was quite surprised and immediately classified him as being dumb-witted). When he had completed the task, he glanced slowly at them with a strained look on his face, as though fighting an internal battle, and at last sighed, handing them a room key. "Righ'," he said, "room 216, yeh got that?" When both girls nodded, he continued, "and don' yeh get any ideas 'bout sneakin' some Firewhiskey, the answer is still no."

Once again, the two girls nodded. Alisha extended her hand and took the key from the man, then led the way towards an old, wooden staircase, which led to the rooms. Apprehensively, Serena pursued her, her long, dark brown hair flowing gracefully behind her.

The steps were evidently not in as good condition as they used to be. With every step the girls took, they would creak loudly. Two floors later, Alisha stepped off of the staircase and leaned against the wall, panting from the long climb. Ren soon joined her, equally exhausted. Once they had recovered, they exchanged glances.

"That old man was really something," Alisha finally said.

"Tell me about it. He seemed to think that we wanted to sneak some Firewhiskey. Honestly!"

For a moment, they just stood there in an uncomfortable silence. Then, suddenly, they burst out laughing.

When at last they had recovered, Alisha said, "right. So, room 216. That should be just along here, and on the right side…" Within seconds, she had located their room and brandished the key. "Here we go," she muttered, sliding it carefully into the keyhole. It was then that she noticed that it was quite unlike the keys one found in your average Muggle hotel. Those were usually thin, credit-card-like slips of plastic that were slid into an electronic lock to open the door. The key in her hands, however, was a standard, old-fashioned, bronze key with a rusty handle.

Shaking her head with a shrug, she pulled open the door and slid the key out of the lock. Just as she had turned to Serena and said, "hey, Ren! C'mere, look at our room!" she heard footsteps further down the corridor.

Serena quickly approached her, and they exchanged glances. Quickly, they disappeared inside their room and pulled the door shut, standing on tiptoe to view what was happening out of the peek hole.

* * *

Two girls walked down the red-carpeted floor. They were exactly the same height, and they both had auburn hair and green eyes, as well as similar facial features. Then, Alisha did a double-take. No, wait! They had _identical_ facial features! In fact, as she looked them over, they appeared exactly the same! The only difference was one in jewelry. Both wore expensive-looking silver chains around their necks (which Alisha was sure must have been real silver, the way the light caught it), both had letters on the bottom which spelled something, and at the end of the word, both were encrusted with a single emerald. But one of the girl's (that on left) necklaces said, _Prissy_, and the other one (on the right), said, _Cissy_. 

Her mouth hung open as she watched the two girls—which she figured must have been identical twins—and listened intently to what they were saying.

"Wow! I can't believe we tricked mother into thinking we wouldn't get into trouble!" the girl on the left, whose name Alisha assumed must be Prissy, said.

"I know!" the other exclaimed, and they turned and did some sort of high five or hand shake. Shaking her head in confusion, Alisha continued watching.

"And to think, all this time she thought we were just going to sleep over at Cynthia's! Ha! I bet she _never_ guessed she would find us all the way in London, at the Leaky Cauldron! Sharing a room all to ourselves after a hard day's work!"

"And tomorrow," Cissy continued, "we have school! Free from our family until Christmas! Yes!"

Alisha's eyes widened. Why they would want to be free from their family was beyond her. Of course, she herself had an awful family with horrible parents, but they were wearing expensive-looking clothes and were obviously well treated.

The girls' discussion continued, becoming increasingly cold-hearted. Alisha noticed a distinctive smirk on their faces and a gleam in their eyes that immediately turned her against them. There was a strong sense of coldness in their eyes, and it made her cringe at the thought. When at last their conversation ended, she caught the last few words spoken:

"Right. And what room did that old crook say we were?" Prissy finally asked.

"Uh…Room 218, I believe…right here…"

As the girls walked up to the door, they escaped Alisha's range of vision, but her face paled. _Right next to us,_ she thought worriedly. They would have to spend the night right next to those two awful girls. And somehow, she had a bad feeling about it.

* * *

Alisha and Serena had both taken a few belongings with them: clothes for the next day, all of their school supplies, and a few other necessities. All of them were stuffed inside their Hogwarts trunks; Serena's was a scarlet with gold borders, while Alisha's was a royal blue with silver borders. While she felt sheepish noticing that Serena had more possessions than she, Alisha shrugged it off with a sigh. That was to be expected. 

Each of them arranged their baggage carefully at the end of their beds. The room was set up with a large, round, red rug with gold patterns set on the floor, and two twin four-poster beds side by side, with a small, simple wooden chest and the end of each. Carefully, they set their trunks inside the chests and got comfortable. Both girls chatted eagerly. Around eight o'clock, they decided to go for an evening stroll.

Careful not to lock themselves out of their room, they took their key and headed off. But just as they heard the soft click of the door closing behind them, they heard an identical sound from directly beside them. Whirling around, Alisha's heart sank as she discovered it was exactly what she had expected: Cissy and Prissy seemed to think that it was a good idea to go for a walk as well, and were just locking up and getting ready to go.

Serena and Alisha exchanged glances, then took a deep breath and headed for the staircase. The two girls strolled briskly past the twins, feeling the breeze as they walked quickly by, but before they had reached the staircase, one of them—Prissy—had extended a hand, bringing them to a halt.

"Well, well," she said slowly, "what do we have here? Hogwarts as well?"

Slowly, the two girls nodded. "Yes," they said in unison, "First Years."

"Us, too," said Cissy. "And your names are?"

Reluctantly, Alisha began. "I'm Alisha Everwhirl, and this is—"

"Serena. Serena Coalchard," the other girl interjected, "but my nickname's Ren."

"Pleasure," Prissy said, in such a tone that Alisha was sure that it was not a pleasure at all. "I'm Priscilla DeSerpent and this is my twin sister—"

"Narcissa DeSerpent. But you can call me Cissy, everyone does, and most people call her—"

"Prissy," Priscilla interrupted.

"I see," Alisha murmured, gazing at the ground.

"Right," Serena continued, "we'd best be off."

"See you at Hogwarts," the twins chorused.

"Yeah," Alisha muttered quite forcefully, "you, too."

* * *

As she and Serena started off together, Alisha had the feeling that this was the start of something. _Give it two or three years,_ she thought to herself, _and I could end up with a best friend and two worst enemies._ And she was right. 


	3. Chapter II: Back to Hogwarts

**See first page for disclaimer and other information.**

* * *

Chapter II: Back to Hogwarts 

The scarlet steam engine whistled twice, the sound echoing loudly, and Alisha felt her heart race in excitement. The summer holidays had been far too long for her liking, as they always were. Of course, she and her friends always communicated via owl, but it was hardly enough to drag her through the two-month vacation she had to spend with her two awful, uncaring parents.

It was three years later from that fateful day in Diagon Alley, and a 13-year-old Alisha Everwhirl sat, grin broad, across from her best friend, 13-year-old Serena Coalchard. They smiled at each other, and as the train began to move, the grin on Alisha's face grew wider still.

"I missed you so much!" she exclaimed. How true it was; despite the fact that they had known everything that went on in each other's lives over the summer (courtesy of their owl post correspondence), actually seeing and talking to her best friend was a luxury Alisha could hardly live without.

Serena laughed. "I missed you, too!" she replied, and it only took a moment for her to pull the other girl into a tight hug, releasing her quickly but reluctantly. For a moment, they just sat, staring at each other, grinning broadly. Alisha found herself jolted backwards into her seat as the train started to move, and laughed a little as she saw Serena, who was opposite her, lurch forward. And slowly, the conversation began.

As the train began to pick up speed, Alisha reached for the window. "It's hot," she said, unlatching it and pulling it open. Her hair swayed in the breeze and she smiled in satisfaction. It was a bright, sunny morning and the sky was as blue as ever. Unfortunately, a day-long train trip was what Alisha would have to endure and she wasn't exactly excited about it.

About a half hour later, the elderly, white-haired woman with the trolley came by. As usual, she asked, in her squeaky little voice, "anything off the trolley, dears?" And as usual, both girls exchanged glances as broad grins split their faces.

Immediately, both girls' hands reached for their pockets and pulled out their change purses. They both fished around, pulling out enough money to split the cost, then said in unison, "we'll take the lot!"

The woman blinked in surprise for a moment, then laughed. "How many of each would you like?" she asked, hesitating as she gazed at the coins in their hands.

"Let's see…" Alisha began.

"One bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans," Serena began, sliding five Knuts over to the woman, who handed her the requested item.

"Six Chocolate Frogs," Alisha continued, handing the woman the required price and accepting the item she had asked for.

"Twelve Licorice Wands," Serena requested, and once again, she gave the woman the money, then took the sweets (this became their routine).

"Two Acid Pops," Alisha said, and the exchange was made.

"Four Cauldron Cakes," Serena said.

"Ten Sugar Quills," Alisha continued.

"Two Pumpkin Pasties," Serena requested.

"And, um, let's see…" Alisha began, and the girls continued to list their desires until the correct quantity of every sweet on the trolley had been mentioned and paid for.

The woman smiled as she took the large sum of money and placed it in her own change purse. "Thank you," she said, fingering it fondly before closing the door to their compartment as she left.

Both girls laughed. Since their first train ride, they had always taken everything on the trolley and after two whole years of it, it wasn't about to change. "Do you think we'll actually be able to eat all this?" Alisha asked with a laugh as she started dividing the candy in half.

Serena shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. By Halloween we'll be ready to stock up again once we get to Hogsmeade!"

Alisha grinned and felt excitement bubble up inside of her. "Oh, that's right! Hogsmeade this year! I can't believe I forgot!"

Since they had first learned of the village, both girls had talked eagerly of what they would do when they were old enough to visit the village.

Serena gaped. "What do you mean you forgot? We've been talking about Hogsmeade since the first year!" She suddenly lowered her voice and continued, "Are you up for sneaking out some time?"

Alisha laughed, but a flicker of fear was notable in her eyes. "Well…I dunno…"

"Oh, come _on_! Where's your sense of adventure?"

She laughed again and sighed, relenting. Serena had always been the daring one and the rebel. She, on the other hand, Alisha had always been the quiet, rule-abiding, intelligent one. That was probably why she had ended up in Ravenclaw while Serena had found her place in Gryffindor.

It was hard being in a different House from your best friend, there was no denying it. But sometimes Alisha thought that maybe it actually made them closer. It made the time they spent together so much more valuable. She smiled weakly. "I guess," she said slowly, "it'd be worth it after a trip to the Shrieking Shack, Honeydukes, Scrivenshaft's, Gladrags and the Three Broomsticks."

"And the Hog's Head!" Serena added, "don't forget that! We have to go there because it's our only shot at getting to try some Firewhiskey before we turn drinking age!"

Alisha snorted. "Very funny!" she snapped, but she couldn't suppress a giggle. Her mind slowly drifted back to when she had first met Serena, back at the Leaky Cauldron, and the old innkeeper who had yelled at them after assuming their only intention was to try and get a drink of the forbidden but infamous alcoholic beverage…

She jumped suddenly as the compartment door clicked open. "Oh," a cold, menacing voice snarled, "sorry. We were just checking to see if this compartment was empty."

Serena whipped around and glared at two tall girls with porcelain-like skin, auburn hair and emerald green eyes. "Get lost, jerks!" she snapped.

"Excuse me for trying to be polite!" snorted the other girl with a laugh.

They happened to be Prissy (Serena's worst enemy) and Cissy (Alisha's worst enemy), the DeSerpent twins. Alisha scowled.

"Shove it and leave!" she snapped, standing up so the twins wouldn't tower over her so menacingly. They were still, however, much taller than she was.

"Ooh, careful, Mudblood, you don't want to be rude to us! Don't forget, we wasted _our_ manners on you!" snapped Cissy. Prissy laughed, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her wand.

Serena scowled. "I—said—get—lost!" she hissed, standing up to face them properly.

Alisha felt the colour from her face drain as she collapsed into her seat with a dull thud. _Mudblood…_ It was the worst thing they could call her and she still hadn't been able to accept the fact that they had more power over her just because of their parentage. She shakily withdrew her wand from her pocket and held it aloft, just as Prissy had done. "Don't call me that," she said weakly.

"Why not?" snarled Cissy, "what's wrong? Does the wittle Mudbwood and her fiwthy Muggwe pawents not wike being adwessed as the scum they are?" she said mockingly.

"Shut up!" Serena interjected firmly, seeing that Alisha was having trouble.

"Make me," Cissy growled, continuing on with her teasing and humiliation.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Serena cried, rising to her feet and prodding Cissy with her wand.

Alisha's head shot up, watching the events unfold with interest. Serena had always had a bit more trouble restraining herself than Alisha had, so it was always Alisha that jumped in at the last minute, barely saving her from expulsion. She knew, however, that it was only a matter of time, before Serena wouldn't be able to contain herself any longer, and Alisha wouldn't be able to resist watching it happen. Perhaps today was that day… Despite this notion, a weak protest still escaped her mouth. "Get lost," she said, her voice scarcely more than a whisper.

Yet it was still enough for Serena to hear. She turned to her friend, nodded, and turned back to the twins. "Or else!" she growled.

"Or else what?" Cissy demanded, her voice merely a malicious whisper, though Alisha detected a flicker of fear in her eyes.

"OR ELSE I'LL TURN YOU INTO THE BLOODY RAT YOU ARE! NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Ren bellowed.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Prissy said, in a don't-say-I-didn't-warn-you tone of voice.

Alisha rolled her eyes, glancing from one face to the other. It was so tempting to just stand by and watch it happen. She hated Cissy so much, she just wanted to punch her face in…and Prissy, too, she was horrible to Ren…

The tension was palpable. At last, unable to take this any longer, Alisha gently pushed Serena out of the way. "When I say," she began icily, "get lost, you'd better GET LOST!" With one final, almighty shove, she had thrown the twins out the compartment door and slammed it shut.

Leaning against the door, chest heaving, Alisha smiled weakly. "Thanks for standing up for me," she said slowly, allowing herself to sink into her plush, red seat like a stone. She reached for her wand and muttered a brief, "_Colloportus!_" Turning to Serena, she explained, "just in case."

Despite the fact that the spell could easily be countered, Alisha felt much safer when she was behind a locked door.

Serena smiled weakly. "What are friends for?" she said kindly.

A shaky smile tugged at Alisha's lips, and she sighed. "Those two…" she grumbled.

Serena nodded sympathetically. "They're awful, aren't they?" Awful, they both knew, was being kind. It was an absolute understatement. But Serena was fortunate enough to be a Half-Blood, and so, unlike Alisha, she was never called a Mudblood. Of course, being a Half-Blood wasn't much better, except that Serena's father had been one of the greatest sorcerers of all time. _He_ had been a pureblood, but he had married a Muggle.

Unfortunately, at the age of eight, Serena lost her father. He died at the hand of Lord Voldemort himself, being a great friend of Harry Potter's, and it had been that final blow he had delivered that had cost him his life. Thankfully, that final blow had also been the end of the Dark Lord. He had bellowed out a spell of his own invention, "_Collocorpus!_" It was designed to glue the person at which it was directed, to the person nearest them. That had been him. He knew that he didn't stand a chance against the Dark Lord when he was stuck to him, considering that he was one of the only people who knew the counter-curse, and Voldemort was not among them. One of the ways to becoming detached, however, was to kill the person; Lord Voldemort, he knew, would show no mercy, and he had been right. Two words and a blinding green flash later, and Lord Voldemort was free once again. But it had been the distraction that had saved Harry Potter from what would have otherwise been certain defeat. He took his chance, disarming his opponent, then bellowing the first and only Unforgiveable curse he would ever use in his entire life.

And then, it was all over. Voldemort had been slain, the wizarding world was safe once again. Eventually, Aurors everywhere relaxed and retired as they caught all of the Death Eaters, and the magical community plunged into peace once again.

_But,_ Alisha thought, _it wasn't a gain for everyone. In the case of Serena, it had been as much a loss as a win. Peace, but at a terrible cost._ She stared at her friend with sympathy written all over her face. Serena missed her dad so much; she had gotten along much better with her father than she had with her mother.

Serena's smile quickly faded. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Alisha said softly, her gaze falling to the floor, "nothing's wrong…not at all…so anyway, about Hogsmeade…" It was a frantic attempt to change the subject, but it worked. The fact was that a loss like Serena's could not be forgotten. But her sole request to Alisha—once she had finally admitted it, of course—was for her best friend not to treat her any differently. Alisha had tried, yet the task had proved tricky. As if that wasn't enough, Serena always seemed to be able to tell whenever her mind so much as touched on the subject.

It was around noon when Alisha's stomach growled hungrily. She blushed, muttered a brief, "sorry," then remembered where she was. At her Muggle home, something like that would have been inexcusable. But with Serena, they lived for fun. They were just a little rebellious (despite Alisha's guilty conscience), and Serena's attitude towards the rules was, "so what if I'm not supposed to do that? You only live once!" Alisha was always at her side, always her sidekick, as long as they didn't get caught. And aside from the occassional lecture from a professor, they hadn't been.

So when she looked up at Serena and caught sight of a mischevious grin on her face, and a greedy glint in her eye, she knew right away what she was thinking.

Both girls exchanged one glance, then delved into the pile of sweets.

"Start with the Bertie Bott's?" Alisha asked.

Serena nodded. "Pass 'em over!"

They had always done this, since their first year. The first thing they ate were the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and it was always a dare game. Each girl would take a turn, closing her eyes and reaching into the pile. The first bean they pulled out from the sack was the one they would have to eat. At first, they mostly got good ones, but they eventually got to the really gross ones—such as bogie, vomit and earwax.

"You going first, then?" Alisha asked, as she obliged her friend's request.

Serena gave a shrug, and then nodded. She closed her eyes and reached deep into the bag. As she started to pull her hand out of the bag, out came… a bright green bean with forest green stripes…

"Darn it! Just grass!" Serena muttered as she popped it into her mouth and passed the bag to her friend.

Alisha did the same, but her hand closed over a yellow-white bean with bright yellow spots. "Mmm!" she exclaimed as she slipped it into her mouth. "Buttered popcorn!"

Serena sighed. "How come _you_ get all the luck!" she moaned, as she took the bag from her friend and reached her hand into the bag, looking away. As she pulled out a bright red bean, however, she shrugged. "Alas," she muttered, "Strawberry is one of my favourites. I eat my words!" and she popped it into her mouth.

Alisha laughed, pulled out an earwax flavoured one, and groaned. Earwax, she had learned, was oddly sweet. (A/N: For anyone who asks me how I know that, it's only because I once had a very weird classmate who liked to pick their ear and eat it. I can't remember who it was, but they told me. 0o I do NOT pick my ear! P Anyway…on with the story!) But it was also disgusting, and she didn't like it. Reluctantly, she dropped it in her mouth and swallowed it as quickly as possible. She then stood up and reached onto the luggage rack above her, turning to Serena.

"I should start the record!" she exclaimed. She carefully levitated her trunk off of the shelf, and set down on the floor in front of her. She quickly unlocked it, and delved around until she found what she was looking for: a small binder with a purple cover. On the front, she and Serena had stuck on various things—photos, _Daily Prophet_ snippets, stickers from Muggle shops, and a few other things.

It was their scrapbook, and Alisha had been keeping it since their first year. Evidently, they took equal part in the work, but Alisha looked after it, for, as Serena had said, she wasn't exactly the most organized person in the world.

Alisha locked up her trunk after pulling out a set of multi-coloured Muggle pens, then levitated it back onto the rack.

The binder had seven dividers—one for each year. Alisha flipped to the third, which was coloured a purple that matched the front of the book (for each divider was a different colour) and flipped to the first blank page. Slowly, she started to write the date and title in neat, colourful, cursive script. She then took to printing each of the beans that they had tried so far. Her entry looked somewhat like this:

September 1, 2006  
On the train to Hogwarts: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean Bravery Contest First Turn: Serena—Grass Second Turn: Alisha—Buttered Popcorn  
Third Turn: Serena—Strawberry  
Fourth Turn: Alisha—Earwax

She left lots of room for the rest of the game, and for the lists they always made at the end of the grossest flavours, tastiest flavours, and most interesting flavours, as well as a piece of the cut up bag. After they had finished the page, Alisha would put a page protector over it so that it wouldn't get damaged and they could save it and remember that day.

Grinning, Serena smiled at her. "Smart," she said, "I forgot all about it! My turn?"

With a nod from her friend, she had reached into the bag and pulled out a chalk white one. "Ooh," she said, frowning and thinking, "this could be almost anything…" As she slipped it into her mouth, she almost spit it out in disgust. "Aww! _Paper!_"

Alisha passed her the binder so that she could write the results of the fifth turn, then she doubled over laughing. "Paper? What kind of a flavour is that?" It must have been a new concoction; they had never encountered it before.

"Not funny!" Serena moaned, "I almost spit it out, it was gross!"

Clutching her stomach from laughing so hard, Alisha reached into the bag, taking the binder from her friend, and pulled out…

She raised an eyebrow, and could tell Serena had done the same. There, in the palm of her hand, was a transparent bean. And aside for the fact that it looked somewhat like glass, you wouldn't have been able to tell it was there. She turned to her friend, mouth agape.

"What," Serena began bluntly, staring at the bean, "the bloody hell," she continued, pausing for effect, "is _that_!"

Alisha laughed, shrugged, and did what she had to do. Taking a very deep breath, she closed her eyes, raised her hand to her mouth…and let the small candy drop, landing on her tongue. She closed her mouth and felt the solidness of the bean melt away, making way for cold, flavourless liquid.

"That's brilliant!" she exclaimed, "it's water!"

"Water?" Ren snorted. "Weird…"

Both paper and water made it onto the girls' list of the most interesting flavours. The contest persisted, and by around two in the afternoon, the bag was empty.

Alisha turned to her friend, grin broad. "Interesting game, that!" she exclaimed.

Serena nodded. "I would say it's our best yet!"

Over the past three years, both girls had learned that Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans had no boundaries; no limits. There was _always_ some weird new flavour they had never heard of before, and they just kept getting better and better.

Alisha paused, then reached into a side pocket of the binder and pulled out a page protector. "Oi," she said, "Ren, would you pass me that bag?"

Her friend nodded. They had finished agreeing on what the top ten most interesting flavours, tastiest flavours, and grossest flavours were—now it was time to save the bag as physical evidence. Alisha pulled out her wand and held it in front of her, aiming it carefully at the bag. "_Diffindo!_" she said firmly. She carefully guided the wand; soon they were left with a small square of the scarlet-coloured bag. In the center were the golden letters that spelled, _Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans_. She pulled one of the drawstrings out of the ruined bag, and arranged it skillfully around the square like a border. She then muttered, "_Collosempra!_" the incantation for the Permanent Sticking Charm (A/N: Not really, I just made up the incantation. Derives from the French term, "colle," which means, "glue," and the Latin term, "semper," meaning "always." If anyone knows the actual incantation, please let me know!), and glued it to the paper for good. Smiling, she murmured, "page one of a great year!" and slipped the paper into a page protector, putting it back in the binder.

Alisha then put the page back in the scrapbook and put all her materials away. They were left to sit, socialize, and indulge in the many sweets they had purchased.

Alisha immediately reached for a raspberry-filled Chocolate Cauldron, while Serena snatched up a Pumpkin Pasty. While Alisha savoured the flavours, Serena pointed to the Sugar Quills. "We have to save these," she said, "you really can fool the teachers with them; that's not an opportunity to pass up!"

Alisha furrowed her brow. "Oh, come on, Ren! You've got to try in school at least sometimes!"

Serena snorted, rolling her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered, but Alisha felt her heart sink as she caught what she was sure was a mutter of, "Little-Miss-Know-It-All. Just because I don't have brains that leak out of my ears and my eye sockets doesn't mean you can tell me what to do! Young prodigies…"

_Indeed,_ Alisha thought, _prodigies, eh?_ Since she had set foot in her first class, she had known that she was far more advanced than all the other students in her year. She had even found herself accidentally performing non-verbal spells over the summer between her first year and her second year. It had been quite an accident; she had just been remembering the incantation to a complicated charm, wand held aloft, when all of a sudden, she had performed it! Of course, that had caused some trouble not only with her parents, but with the Ministry as well, though all was soon worked out. Hogwarts was in no hurry to expel the girl who was _always_ top in all of her classes, and her year.

But it had been clear to her that Serena was hiding something. Every time the subject of schoolwork came up, she would shrug, get embarrassed, and mutter, "I don't want to be smart!" For ages now, Alisha had figured out that her friend had kept something from her—a secret she was unwilling to reveal—that she had a hidden intelligence. For nothing stayed hidden from Alisha; not for long, anyway.

She had determined that Serena was not as advanced as her, for there were a few things she couldn't do. Among them, she couldn't write her own spells, something Alisha had just learned over the summer, and she hadn't mastered non-verbals; not _yet_, at any rate.

Serena's words played over in her mind like a tape recorder. She shoved them from her thoughts and rested her gaze on the floor. Sensing that something was wrong and feeling guilty, Serena said, "but it's OK if we eat some…I mean, we can stock up on our next trip to Hogsmeade!"

As the awkward silence was broken, both girls smiled and continued to talk; and soon, things were back to normal. By the time it was six in the evening, a considerable dent had been made in the pile of sweets. The remaining treats were divided up between the two of them, based on who wanted what and what was fair. The girls changed into their robes at six-thirty, by which time it was growing steadily darker and there was a slight drizzle outside (which caused Alisha to promptly close the window).

It was at seven-thirty that the train came to a halt at the Hogsmeade station. Alisha summed up the events of the day: her and Serena splitting the sweets, the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean Bravery Contest they'd had, an intrusion by Prissy and Cissy, lots of conversation and catching up… Indeed, she was sure it was nothing more than another train trip. And, she was sure, it was leading to nothing more than another year at Hogwarts. But that was where she was wrong.


	4. Chapter III: Apparecium!

See first page for disclaimer, author's notes and other information.

* * *

Chapter III: _Apparecium!_ Reveal Your Magic!

Alisha was doing what she could normally be found doing; she was in the library. Surely there was nothing suspicious about that? Of course Serena wasn't with her; studying was one of the few things that they didn't do together. For the difference between the two was that, for both, whether they tried or not, they got good grades. Exceptional grades. But if Alisha didn't try, she had her guilty conscience to live with, whereas if Serena tried, she had her loss of self-confidence to live with. _I don't want to be a nerd! I'm not smart; I'm stupid!_ These were the typical remarks of Serena.

But today, even Alisha was not to be found studying. She had studied hard enough, after several nights of revision, and was convinced that she was ready for her first mid-month exams. Instead, she leisurely paced the many shelves, looking for something interesting…something that was worth reading, something that she hadn't read before.

Serena was out practicing Quidditch. It was the Gryffindors' night to practice, and Serena had managed to get on as a Seeker in her second year. Alisha, too, had somehow done the same, and was on the Ravenclaw team, but she played the position of Chaser. Both seemed to be naturals. Whenever Alisha was in the air, she felt free, like there were no limits, no boundaries…like she could just fly away from all her troubles. It was an amazing sensation, and she had developed a love not just of flying, but of the popular wizard sport, Quidditch. She loved being on the team, but it was so hard to play against her best friend.

It had been three weeks since their arrival at Hogwarts and both girls had settled in quickly and made themselves right at home. Alisha was already bored with most of the books in the library; she had already read all of the newest additions. _I think I'll read about…the history of Hogwarts…_ she thought to herself.

As she meandered over to the correct section, she gazed at the titles and sighed. Hogwarts, A History? _Nope, I've read that._ The Four Founders of Hogwarts? _No, I've read that, too._ Hogwarts: The Beginning? _Read it._ The History of the Many European Magic Schools? _Read it._ The Mysteries of the Four: A Common Listing Of The Most Popular Founder Theories, Rumors and Gossips? _Yeah, read that. It was rubbish, really…_

Alisha sighed. There wasn't really much there for her. Maybe she could get into the restricted section? Being a regular at the library and a top student, she, unlike others, could easily slip behind the velvet rope with a small request and a nod of approval from the librarian. But as she poked her head out from the shelf, she found that Madam Pince was not there as usual. In her place was Filch. Alisha raised an eyebrow. _What is _he_ doing here!_

Slowly, she headed over to the counter. It was worth a try, wasn't it? But Filch happened to be one of the only Hogwarts staff members who didn't favour Alisha for her academic abilities. Serena had, let's just say, a talent for trouble, and she often managed to persuade Alisha to enjoy her misadventures as well. Filch was not too fond of Serena's night time strolls through the castle, and he wasn't pleased with Alisha, either, since she always managed to wheedle herself out of getting a detention or losing points for either of their houses.

"What d'yeh want?" Filch growled as he saw Alisha approaching him.

Immediately, Alisha knew that this was not going to go as planned. "I was just…" she said softly… "just wondering if I could use the restricted section? I've read most of the other books, and I'm a little bored with the current selection…so I was just thinking maybe…"

"The Restricted Section ain't fer leisurely reading! It's fer people with notes from a prefesser and since yeh wouldn't happen teh have one…"

Alisha sighed. "Well, you see, Mr. Filch, Madam Pince always lets me—" But her appeal was cut short.

"Do I look like Madam Pince to you? 'Unh?"

"Uh…" she paused, unsure of what to say, "sorry to have bothered you. I'll just go back to my normal section…" She backed away before he could bellow out an angry cuss at her.

Alisha felt his gaze follow her as she quickly retreated from the desk and dashed between several shelves. She persisted her running for several minutes until she slipped through an open door and vanished behind a shelf…one she hadn't seen before…

_That's strange! I thought I'd explored the whole of the library!_ She thought, frowning. Despite the immense size of the Hogwarts library, she had still explored the many rooms and found that they were all quite familiar to her. But there was no mistaking it: she had never been to this part of the library before. She suddenly heard a soft click behind her…like the clicking of a door when it locks…

Alisha whipped around and stared in alarm at an old, wooden door, the one she'd just run through. _Surely…no…it can't be…_ But as she looked around her, she knew it was true; this was the locked door she had passed so many times in her wanderings through the library. Every time she passed it, she had tried to open it, but it had never worked…and finally she had walked through it, because somebody had left it open…but who?

She looked around, listened hard, but there was nobody else in the room with her and she knew it. It was quite surreal; surely she was just dreaming? Madam Pince herself had oft complained about her inability to open the door. _"I've tried everything!" she'd said to Alisha, "I tickled it, I guessed passwords, I tried _Alohomora!_ …I even tried to use _Bombarda!_ to blow it off its hinges! And I heaved and shoved. But nothing works!"_

Alisha shook her head. If the librarian had been incapable of opening the door using so many methods, how was it possible that she had simply walked through it without doing anything?

Suddenly something awful occurred to her; was she trapped in this room? Or could she still open it from the inside? Surely…she must be able to… Slowly, she approached the door and examined the lock: a simple, metal latch. She knew she could unlock it, and for a moment she felt tempted to get out of the room as quickly as possible…when something else contradicted her desperation to escape. It was nothing more than a simple question, but it worked. _Why? Why should I go now? A few minutes ago this would have been paradise, and suddenly I'm aching to leave?_

That was too true! And so, for the first time, Alisha took in her surroundings, and let her jaw drop. Blue and silver. Everywhere. She simply couldn't believe it; they were her favourite colours! As her eyes darted about curiously, she caught sight of several tapestries on the walls; all of them were different, but she noticed the one recurring thing in all of them was that they all featured either a midnight black cat, a young, beautiful woman, or an eagle.

Her eyes fell on a sitting area nearby; several large, comfortable chairs were assembled around a glass coffee table on top of a soft, plush, baby blue rug. A safe but comfortable distance away was a fireplace. The wood inside was old and charred, signifying that the fireplace hadn't been used in several years. For a moment, Alisha felt a chill run down her spine; the kind of chill that one gets when they feel like something isn't right. _What is this room? Who built it? And how come it's been kept secret for so many years?_

But as she gazed longingly around at the room, she felt her sense of discomfort evaporate. _Who cares?_ she reasoned. Anyway, maybe she would find something about it in one of the books…Alisha darted towards the nearest shelf and felt her heart leap. It was filled with several old, dusty volumes, none of which she had read before, and all of them were nice and long. _I must be dreaming… _she thought to herself, shaking her head disbelievingly.

* * *

_Gryffindor practice tonight? Ha! Now _there's_ one thing Miss-I-Know-Everything _doesn't _know!_ Even then, as she headed over to get out her broom, Serena wasn't sure why she'd lied to her best friend. There was no Gryffindor Quidditch practice that night, but she had just wanted to…_just be alone,_ she thought. But another inner voice came forward, contradicting the other one. _Just wanted to ditch your best friend for no apparent reason!_ She noted the truth in the statement with a pang. 

_Whatever,_ she reasoned, _why shouldn't I ditch her once and a while? Her idea of fun is going to the library all the time! The little bookworm's got to learn to live life!_ It had been one of those days when Serena had just been…_annoyed_. In a bad mood. And Alisha, Alisha had been so bright and cheery it had driven her mad. Serena had just needed to be alone, but Alisha didn't seem to understand that… The girl felt as though it didn't matter to her friend how she was feeling; like all that mattered were her precious little books…

But there was something else that had been bothering her… Ever since that morning, she still couldn't get the image of Jason talking to Priscilla out of her head…

"Cut it out!" she growled angrily. She shot a furious glance—the type of glance that, as they say, 'if looks could kill'—at the blank, stone wall in front of her. She found it oddly satisfying.

Serena scowled bitterly as she stormed up to the broom cupboard and wrenched out a Comet 360. She let out a soft sigh as she gazed at the weather worn broom. Many of the end twigs were damaged, the handle was splotchy and unpolished, and the broom itself was so much slower than the newer versions. But what could she do about it?

The school hadn't been able to afford a new broom for her and Alisha. She still remembered the words that had been spoken by Headmaster Harry Potter himself: _"I'm sorry, girls. You're welcome to join the team, but I won't be able to get you any new brooms this year. You'll have to use the school ones for now. But you're good fliers anyway; it should scarcely effect your performance."_

This, too, annoyed her. She snatched the broom away from the others, and slammed the door shut. She then turned on her heel and strode towards the staircase. Her legs propelled her automatically down the stairs, through the entrance hall and out the door. The moment she walked out into the crisp, fall air, she let out a sigh of relief. _Alone. At last…_

For a moment, she just stood there, relishing the feeling of the wind in her hair, taking in the beautiful sights…savouring the soft crunching sound of the leaves beneath her feet.

After she had recovered, Serena turned and hurried towards the Quidditch pitch. Part of what she'd said had been true; she was going to fly today. But not for practice. The reason was because flying was the only thing she could do that could really make her relax, put her in a good mood no matter how she was feeling.

Unfortunately, students weren't allowed to use the pitch to fly just for fun. So then how could she fly? _Easy,_ she reasoned, _I'll bend the rules a bit. I won't be flying on the pitch today…_ Even if she got caught, she didn't really care. Nothing seemed to matter just then. She sighed happily as she mounted her broom and kicked off a little more forcefully from the ground than usual.

There was nobody around just then, but she wanted to be safe anyway, so she accelerated full speed towards the Forbidden Forest. As she whirled about in the air, Serena felt so much more powerful than usual.

Her robes billowed out behind her; she felt the wind whistling in her ears and her hair—which was tied back in a ponytail as usual—flowing behind gracefully.

She slowed slightly as she reached the Forbidden Forest; the treetops were a little too close for comfort. She quickly turned her broom perfectly vertical and shot up until she was well above the forest; Serena then gracefully curved down slightly until she was just above the tips of the tallest trees.

She laughed at the feel of flying again, and could already feel her anger and grumpiness leaving her. She flattened her back and went straight forward at an incredible speed, slicing the air as she flew. Feeling ready for some action, she did a sharp 360 turn. As she went, from the speed of the broom, she felt her body leaning ever so slightly towards the outside of her path; one of her ankles grazed a tree. A few leaves came free, fluttering in the wind, but she didn't care.

As she came out of her turn and faced the front once more, she decided to do some zigzags; once again, she flattened herself against the broom for as much speed as possible; once again, she shot ahead as fast as she could go. But this time, she suddenly shot sharply to the left. Then, just as suddenly, she shot sharply to the right. Left, right, left, right, back and forth…

About 30 minutes later, as the sun began to set, Serena panted as she slowed to a stop. Her heart thundered in her chest from all the exercise and she was wearing an ear-to-ear grin on her face. Her eyes glowed with happiness; she felt so much better now. Figuring she ought to take a break, Serena shot up once more and hovered above the tree tops, her eyes scanning the forest for a clearing to land. Frowning as she saw none, she flew on forwards. A few minutes later, she had caught sight of a small clearing and… She squinted, straining her eyes. There was a little dot at the brim of it. Serena's vision wasn't very good; in the Muggle world, she would have needed glasses, but her eyes had been enhanced by magic enough to cope without them. While it would have been better if she wore them, she disliked the thought of them being in the way all the time; when she tried to rub her eye if she had something in it, when she was trying to fly, if they fell for whatever reason…

Shrugging, she figured she would determine what the dot was once she had landed. Grinning, she once again positioned herself vertically, but this time, she was facing the ground. The Wronskie Feint was one of her favourite flying tactics. _One, two, three… DIVE!_

Serena shot down towards the ground, flattening herself on her broom to go faster. She felt her ears pop, her eyes watered from the speed…

And then she was there. She stopped herself inches from the ground, switching to a perfectly controlled land. Now _that_ was first rate flying! As she glanced around the clearing, she rubbed the salty liquid free of her eyes and scanned the place. It was more or less a typical clearing… but then she remembered the dot. Frowning, she glanced around…and then she saw it. There, in the middle of the clearing, was a hut.

horizontal rule

_Hogwarts: The Hidden History_. From the moment she had slid the volume off of the shelf and blown off enough dust to make the title legible (not to mention cause her to sneeze), Alisha had been so intrigued she had bolted back to a large, comfy, royal blue armchair and plopped down inside of it. Quickly, she had pulled out her wand, muttered, "_Incendio!_" and started a small fire in the fireplace.

As she sat examining the lengthy book, she thought she ought to clear it of some of the thick dust that layered the cover. A murmur of, "_Scourgify!_" had fixed that for her, and now she sat comfortably, the soft crackle of the fire filling her ears. Slowly, she opened the book to the first page, which she found was blank. Alisha raised an eyebrow, and for a moment, disappointment welled up inside of her. Frowning, she closed it again, and opened it to a random page much further through. Also blank.

Her heart sank; was this true with every book in the library? She sighed, gingerly flipping back to the first page and gazing sadly at it. Blank as anything, not a spot, not a shadow…white as death. She ran her hand slowly over the page, as though thinking it might help her figure out what this book was hiding. When suddenly… She frowned, leaning close to the volume, and ran her hand over the page again.

No doubt about it, someone had written something there. She could tell by the way it felt. And yet, she could see nothing; it was as though the writing was invisible…

Suddenly, Alisha's face lit up and she snapped her fingers triumphantly. Of course: Invisible ink! Surely that was it!

Brandishing her wand, she waved it gracefully over the page and cried, "_Apparecium!_" Inwardly, she added, _reveal your magic! Show me your secrets!_

For several long moments, Alisha sat staring at the page. Just when she was starting to feel like there was no hope, like there really was nothing written on the page, something caught her eye. A flicker of metallic blue ink. And slowly, slowly…more ink appeared. Words formed right before her eyes. A neat, curly script flourished before her, and it took her a split second to realize that what she was staring at was handwriting.

* * *

Serena gaped disbelievingly at the hut. She knew for a fact that, while there was a large variety of rare magical creatures living in the forest, none of them were capable of building such a structure, and none of them would live in something like this, either. _So it had to be built by a human,_ she thought.

But who? Students were forbidden to venture out into the forest—hence its name—and it didn't make sense for a teacher to build a hut out here, either. They lived at the school; it was only logical that they would stay there. _Unless…they were…hiding something…_

For a moment, a triumphant mental image of Serena standing inside the hut discovering some nasty secrets that her least favourite teachers had been hiding from her flashed before her… But it faded quickly. While it seemed the only logical answer, it made little sense. All the same, Serena found herself overpowered by a sudden desire to go inside…

She quickly walked over, heading for the door, and pulled it open. Much to her dismay, it was locked, but she remembered the spell Alisha had taught her in their first year within a split second. "_Alohomora!_" Alisha had given her a lecture when Serena had hurried to get her after forgetting the spell but coming across a locked door on the second floor, which had turned out to be nothing more than an old, abandoned classroom. _"But you never know when you might need it, Serena! And I might not always be with you, so you've got to learn to do it yourself!"_

Serena sighed, feeling a pang as she realized how guilty she felt whenever she thought of Alisha. Her friend had been right, of course…

But as the door to the hut swung open and she paused momentarily to turn and close the door behind her, remembering to lock it, the sight took her breath away.

She muttered a soft, "hohh…" of awe and longing before gazing around at the small hut. It looked to be someone's living space, and had clearly been abandoned for several years… _Perhaps even several _hundred_ years…or maybe thousand…_ She wouldn't have been entirely surprised, really.

Seeing the hut on the outside, Serena had expected it to be cramped, but she had been wrong. It was actually quite spacious on the inside. Because it was only one room, it was sort of arranged in a circular position, so that one needed only to walk around the full circle to have gone through all of the different living areas. The hut did have windows, but they all had their gold curtains drawn; still, enough light was coming through for her to see easily around. She liked it; it seemed roomy, comfortable… But the best part—her favourite part—was that the entire room was draped in scarlet and gold, which were not only her house colours, but her favourite colours.

A scarlet and gold striped rug (A/N: Well, not really striped…I'm not sure how to describe it…you know like a target is…with a white circle in the center, then a red circle, then another white circle, etc… Like that…only with scarlet and gold… P) lay on the wood floor, and beside it were a few scarlet armchairs. Further up was a wooden table with two matching chairs, with place mats and everything; Ren got the sense that it was probably where the owner or inhabitant of the hut had eaten their meals. Next to this was a gold cabinet full of dishes that weren't necessarily expensive, though still reasonably nice. Quite close by were a few cupboards and a counter. Curiosity overpowered her, so she poked her head inside the nearest wooden cupboard door and gaped disbelievingly at a perfectly preserved (by magic, of course) meal.

Continuing on, she saw a wooden desk with a matching chair, and…hanging over the side of the chair…was that a Gryffindor scarf? There was no mistaking it… _So this person _was_ from Hogwarts,_ Serena thought, the curiosity now becoming overpowering. Scattered across the desk were several papers, but all appeared blank…

She only spent a few seconds examining them before moving on to a small scarlet pull-out couch with gold cushions, that Serena figured must have also served as a bed. A safe but comfortable distance away was a fireplace. The wood inside of it was black as midnight, old, and charred, but beside the fireplace was a fresh pile of unused wood.

Having now explored the full 360 degrees of the hut, she came to stand where she had originally entered, gaping at the lovely living space. _I wonder who it belongs to?_ She thought to herself. _Or belonged, rather…_

* * *

Alisha could scarcely believe what she was seeing. She blinked, but the words in front of her remained. She rubbed her eyes, yet still it made no difference. Finally, she allowed her mouth to hang open as she traced the letters with her eyes, again and again.

On the first page, in metallic blue writing, a typical format had been used. In large letters was the title, and underneath, in smaller letters, the author. The title was no surprise to her; she had figured out what it was upon reading it on the spine. No, what made her jaw drop was the author.

_By: Rowena Ravenclaw_

She rubbed her eyes, still gaping at the three words. She knew what they were, yet she had to read them over and over again, and still she wasn't taking them in.

_But…that's…impossible!_ She knew, however, that it was more than likely. Rowena Ravenclaw had been the brightest witch of her time. Who was she to say that this woman hadn't written books, just because there was no record of it? After all, little was known about the founders…most records of their lives had been lost, considering they had lived over a thousand years ago.

Alisha scarcely managed to read the first dozen pages or so of the book, still so skeptical she could hardly take in what she was reading, when her eyes fell on a clock up on the wall.

She had noticed the faint ticking sound ages ago, yet only now did she realize where it was coming from. The clock had a metallic blue face with a sapphire blue frame and matching letters and hands. _Six-thirty! It's been longer than I thought! I should really get going…_

Yet she felt a strong reluctance to leave the library. Not with this book unread, not with the others sitting there, waiting on the shelves…not with the many secrets Hogwarts had that she still hadn't discovered… What if she couldn't return to the room?

_But if I stay, I'll miss dinner…already I'm late!_ So it was true. Alisha knew she had to get going. _But how can I be sure I can come back?_

An idea suddenly came to her. She stood up, closing the book and setting it down on the coffee table. She approached the door and examined the lock. Nodding in approval, she grinned. _This should work,_ she thought to herself, _it's the right kind of lock…_

And so, feeling triumphant, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, left over from the Hogwarts Express on the first day. She needed merely to pop it into her mouth and chew for roughly ten minutes before she knew it was ready. Smiling, she slipped out of the room, careful to keep the door ajar. She then turned, and, before she closed the door, she pulled the piece of chewing gum out of her mouth and stuck it carefully between the door and its frame, ensuring that it could not close entirely, but that at the same time it wasn't too obvious.

Stepping back to admire her handiwork, Alisha grinned, then, knowing Quidditch would be over by now and figuring Serena might be looking for her, bolted out of the library in search of her best friend.

* * *

Ren spent a surprisingly long time in the hut before she glanced at the watch Alisha had given her the year before as a Christmas gift, with a metallic cherry-red face, golden stars and numbers, a scarlet frame and hands, with a snitch-print strap, and gaped at the thought of it being six-thirty already. She knew it was high time to return to the castle and tell Alisha of her amazing discovery…

_But telling her would mean admitting I lied…_ Yet at the same time, she ought to admit it, oughtn't she? Her friend would find out one way or another, it was best she just told her…

_I'll figure it out later!_ she reasoned, bolting from the hut and mounting her broom once more. _I have to get out of here!_

She carefully positioned her broom parallel to the massive tree trunks, shot into the air vertically, then rotated ninety degrees so she was now perpendicular with the trees in the forest below.

This time, instead of doing fancy tricks, she flattened her back against her broom and sliced the air at the speed she was going. Ten minutes later, she arrived at the front of the school, her hair windblown, her eyes sparkling, her olive-toned cheeks 'kissed' pink by the cool fall air. She wrenched open the door and bolted towards the broom cupboard, which was on the second floor. Once she had shoved her broom back into its cupboard, she closed the door and scanned the hallway.

It was no surprise that Alisha wasn't there, so she figured her friend must be at the dinner table like everyone else. Serena hurried off toward the Great Hall, eager to tell her friend her discovery.


End file.
